To facilitate agitation of clothes or other items being laundered during a washing cycle, horizontal axis washing machines commonly have a clothes containing rotary basket with a plurality of circumferentially spaced V-shaped baffles mounted on an inner surface of the basket for engaging, lifting and agitating the items during washing. Such V-shaped baffles typically are fastened to the inner cylindrical surface of the basket in parallel relation to the rotary axis. Due to the V-shaped configuration of such baffles, water and residual detergents or softeners can become trapped between the inner wall of the wash basket and the baffle, which over time can cause mold and mildew or otherwise become stagnant and odorous. Attempts to solve the problem by providing drain holes in the baffles to permit the escape of trapped water have not been successful since the drain holes can become clogged due to build up of detergent, lint, and other debris in the wash water.